


Nine Tallies

by LadyKatAstrid



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, after episode 17
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26175145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKatAstrid/pseuds/LadyKatAstrid
Summary: Canon Divergence after episode 17After summer was over, Luz had to leave for the human world, and Amity's only connection to her was through letters, hoping not to be forgotten.Luz knew betraying Amity was the only way to keep her safe, but would Amity think the same if they ever met again?
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 22
Kudos: 94





	1. Endurance Test

**Author's Note:**

> Remember when all our worries were based on whether Luz was going back to the human world? My brain decided to follow through with that idea
> 
> The text in italics is Amity's letter and then it's all third person POV
> 
> Not beta-read, we wing it like witches (if there are horrendous mistakes you can point them out)

_Hey Luz,_

_It’s Amity, again. I know you probably know it’s me, but I thought it was better I introduce myself every time I write to you, just in case._

_Things at the Boiling Isles have been quiet since that time Boscha got caught feeding reisins, as I told you in one of my letters. Was that three months ago? I don’t really remember, I’ve kind of started to lose count of how many months you’ve been gone. Edric and Emira keep telling me it hasn’t been that long, but ~~I miss you~~ your presence is missed._

_School hasn’t really been the same since you left, either. After this year ended, I started spending more time with Willow; I know you would’ve wanted us to be best friends again, but even if that doesn’t happen, it’s true that I missed having her in my life. I have even met their dads recently! Again, I mean. I got some narrowed eyes from them, totally deserved, but they made my favourite snack that day Gus and I went to her house, so I don’t think they’re that angry with me._

_And speaking about Gus, Em and Ed have officially taken him under their wing. I think I mentioned that before, but now it’s official. I think they may want him to join them in their pranks, but don’t worry, I’ve been keeping an eye on him to make sure they don’t take it too far. He’s still the same ~~sweet-heart~~ Gus he was when you were here, although he has definitely improved since Em and Ed started tutoring him._

_About me, there’s not much to tell, same old, I guess. ~~I miss you~~ As I told you in previous letters, I’ve been going to the Owl House almost every day. Hooty keeps giving me a wary look when I come over, but he lets me through without much fussing, and King has taken to sleeping on my lap while I study. You were right, he’s very cute and fluffy._

_Did I tell you Eda has been teaching me magic? Probably. At first I thought that it was because my hopes of getting into the Emperor’s Coven are close to zero, but I think she likes me. I’ve learned more magic in the year she’s been teaching me than in my whole life, but she’s very unpredictable with her lessons. A letter is not enough to tell you about everything, so I’ll wait until you’re here, but I’ll tell you this: don’t ask her what happened in Ien._

_~~I wish you were here~~ I mentioned coming to the Owl House, and, truth be told, there are days I even sleep there, in your old room, and I hope you don’t mind. It’s just… Most days at my home aren’t so great, and your room ~~reminds me of you~~ is much quieter, without Em or Ed constantly coming to see what I’m doing, ~~and I don’t have to see my par~~ and gives me the perfect excuse to ask Eda for help with my homework or to ask her to teach me more magic. Oh, remind me to tell you about the progf incident next time you’re here._

_It’s weird, being in your house without you there. I keep looking at Eda’s portal, hoping it will open and you’ll appear to stay, but Eda tells me you have human classes like ours. But they can’t be exactly like ours because I waited for you to appear in our school break, and you weren’t there._

_Eda tells me that the human world is very time consuming, and that you might be working, and that’s why you haven’t answered any of my letters. I guess she’s right. She tells me she leaves my letters in a box, with something inconspicuous written on top of them so that your mother doesn’t suspect anything. Sometimes I think you’ve forgotten about us because I haven’t received any response in the year and a half you’ve been gone, but I know that’s not true, because I **know** you would answer if you could. Man, the human world doesn’t sound that fun._

_I’ll keep writing to you because I know you read these letters with a smile on your face, and that you’re counting down the days until you come back. Each day that passes is a day closer to your return, and I can’t wait to show you how much I have learnt since you left._

_~~I hope you think about me because you haven’t left my mind.~~_

_I hope you get the chance to answer soon,_

_With ~~love,~~ great care,_

_Amity_

_P.S.: I will ask Principal Bump about making an Azura ~~fan club~~ book club when you come :)_

Amity closed the letter with a soft smile, waiting until the ink was dry so it didn’t smudge. Then, she put it in one of those envelopes Eda had brought from the human world, to make it as inconspicuous as she could because apparently, the human world’s paper was different than theirs.

She got up from Luz’s table, blowing the candle and going downstairs, where Eda was slumped on the couch and King was playing cards with Owlbert.

Amity cleared her throat. “I have Luz’s letter,” she told Eda, a slight blush forming on her cheeks, smiling shyly.

Eda sat up and stretched, her joints popping, before taking the envelope. “Hey kid. Good, I’ll have Owlbert leave it in her house when he goes in another raid.”

“Thank you, Eda.”

Eda smiled, but there was a stiffness to it, as if she were hiding something. Amity hadn’t been looking at her, so she didn’t see it, but Eda and King exchanged a look, with the former nodding.

“Amity, you have to help me!” King jumped up. “Hooty has taken my army away from me and you’re the only one strong enough to face him. I command you to end his life!”

He took her by the hand and led her to the outside, with Amity barely managing to wave off at Eda. Eda, from her place on the sofa, started hearing Hooty’s high-pitched voice and King’s cries for vengeance, and seconds later there was a commotion.

Eda looked down at the envelope in her hand, the corners of her mouth pulling downwards, and her thumb caressed the paper sadly. She looked with sorrow in her eyes through the windows, to where Amity stood in a fighting stance, the strokes of the laftest spell she had learnt from her forming in her hands.

Eda sighed.

***

Lilith observed from her vantage point the new recruits of the Emperor’s Coven fight. This was the Endurance’s Test, where recruits fought against each other in an all-in fight until only one of them was left standing, with the sole rule being no killing allowed.

There were maybe ten recruits left standing up when a guard approached her. Down in the pit, one of the masked recruits burnt another one’s cape down.

The simpleton guard bowed at her. They had the same uniform as those fighting below, albeit this guard’s uniform was cleaner. But being an errand guard was the future of those who didn’t pass the Emperor’s nine tallies. A life of nothing but mindlessly following orders, their personalities erased only to satisfy the wishes of those above them.

The higher up you placed in these tests, the higher up you ended inside the Emperor’s Coven; Lilith herself had placed first on her promotion, and there she was, one of the most powerful witches at her Emperor’s command.

The guard handed her a stack of papers. Lilith took them as she heard a pained scream and glanced down, watching a masked person go down grabbing at their leg, twisted in a wrong angle.

Her brow furrowed at that aggression, but the rule hadn’t been broken, so she focused on shuffling the papers, skimming over those directed at her and dismissing the ones she wasn’t interested in. There were six people left in the pit now.

Her eyes widened when she saw a certain envelope, not in surprise because she had been expecting it to arrive, but it hadn’t even been three weeks since the last letter, so this one had arrived sooner than usual.

She opened it, taking out the smallest piece that had her name written on it, and read it.

_Take care of my kid, Lilith. Don’t let anything bad happen to her. -E_

She sighed, sadness and defeat spilling out of her knowing what Eda meant with her words. Her sister had always had a soft spot for defenceless things, and this one was not different.

She looked down to see the end of the fighting.

Only two recruits were fighting, but it was clearly one-sided. The small one used their speed to close the distance between them, while the tall one drew a circle in the air, an abomination hand appearing behind the running figure trying to capture them.

For any outsider watching the fight, it looked like the tall one had managed to catch the small recruit, but for Lilith, it was clear they had let themselves be captured.

The tall recruit closed their fist and the abomination hand followed suit, squeezing tightly. After some moments that would’ve definitely made the captured person suffocate, the tall recruit opened their fist, hoping to see the other one fall to the ground.

But there was no one inside.

The tall recruit looked around in panic, trying to find the other contender, and suddenly, the earth behind them opened and the small one appeared from the crack, jumping onto their back, one hand searching for that space between the robes where skin could be found.

The tall one tried to fight, their hands going to their back to get the small one off them, but it was too late. The small one found what they were looking for and a second later, the tall one was screaming in agony, stumbling and crying for help.

After the first scream, the small one jumped down, watching unmoving the last recruit twist and turn, writhe in pain, showing no intentions of wanting to help. 

Unwilling to continue watching their suffering, Lilith made a circle in the air and the tall one stopped all movement, falling unconscious and pain-free to the floor.

The other recruit just stood there, not even looking at the bodies of their adversaries on the floor.

Lilith walked to the stairs and started walking down.

“Well done, recruit 12-23-27.”

The last recruit turned, facing Lilith but not moving towards her. Lilith was the one to close the distance and she put a hand on their shoulder, squeezing once.

“You can stop now, Luz,” she whispered.

It was like pushing a button and suddenly the recruit, Luz, deflated, her shoulders slumping down.

Only when it was the two of them did Lilith dare call Luz by her name and not a number, and now, everyone around them was groaning in pain or too out of it to pay them any attention.

“I have something for you,” Lilith continued without taking her hand off Luz’s shoulder. “It arrived here earlier than expected, but I’m sure you’ll love it just the same.”

She handed the envelope to Luz, who just stared at it for some seconds. Then, with slow hands, she took off the mask, letting her curly hair fall down her shoulders. It was getting longer, but it was dry and it had lost all its shine.

Lilith wanted to offer her a haircut, cut it all down and give her a fresh start, but she had already taken so many choices from the girl, she could not, in good conscience, take this one from her. Luz would ask her or cut it down herself when she was ready.

Luz looked from the envelope to Lilith’s eyes, a question in them. Lilith still remembered how her eyes had shone all those months ago, filled with hope and determination, but now they were hollow and emotionless.

Lilith swallowed the pity she felt for the human girl and nodded.

Putting the mask under one arm, Luz reached with trembling hands for the envelope. The sleeve of her uniform rode up and Lilith could see the start of the scars that went under her fingerless gloves, but she didn’t say anything, her heart filling with anger and defeat.

Luz took the envelope and hid it under the cape, her head falling down in what Lilith assumed was shame.

“Are you ever going to send a letter back?” Lilith asked carefully, not wanting to scare her.

Luz stayed silent, thinking it over.

“It’s better she doesn’t know about this,” her voice was raspy, and it was evident she didn’t get to use it much.

“Child, what you did was noble, but don’t you think she deserves to know the truth?”

Luz shook her head. “Knowing her, she would try to break me out of here. Amity is safer thinking I’m in the human world.”

Lilith opened her mouth to disagree with her words, but then she saw the dejected look her new protégée had, and thought better of it.

“Go get some rest, Luz, I’ll be over to take care of your wounds.”

Luz shook her head again. “No one managed to touch me. And the cuts I have, I’d rather keep.”

Lilith sighed, but she knew there was no reasoning with her. “No more magic today, Luz, I mean it. You’re not even recovered from yesterday’s scare, and I don’t want to down a dizepina potion down your throat again.”

The human nodded stiffly, putting the mask back on, and turned to climb the stairs out of the fighting pit.

“Recruit 12-23-37?” Called Lilith.

There were people, healers, coming down to take those too injured to the hospital wing, so Lilith couldn’t use Luz’s name. The human turned, just another mask in the homogeneity of the Emperor’s Coven.

“Don’t forget about what I told you on your first day here.” Luz and Lilith maintained an intense look, until finally Luz nodded sheepishly. “Rest. You’ll have work to do tomorrow.”


	2. Lost You, Lost Myself

_Now..._

“They went to the left!”

Two figures ran right while screams and commands sounded behind them. The caped one ran first while their four-legged companion followed them through the shadows. The corridor they took was empty and dark, a perfect combination for disappearing without a trace.

They left the guards behind and, taking random turns, ended up in an office of some sorts, with the pale moonlight coming from one of the windows. The figure closed the door after their companion and drew a circle in the air that made the lock glow for a moment before a click was heard. They sighed in relief, moving to the farthest corner of the room.

The two figures put their backs to the wall and waited. Two minutes passed. Nothing. Five minutes. Silence.

The caped person relaxed against the wall and took a deep breath before pulling the hood back..

“Seriously, King? You had one job!” Amity whisper-shouted.

“Well, how was I supposed to know the guard would suddenly want to go to the bathroom?” He argued.

“You only had to warn me! We practiced it!”

King crossed his arms. “It’s not my problem I don’t perform well under pressure. But you did get it, right?”

Amity groaned and hit her head on the wall behind her. “I couldn’t, the spells were more difficult to break than I expected.”

King jumped onto Amity’s knees and put his paws on her cheeks. “We need that cauldron, Mitty, for Eda! We cannot fail her.”

“I know, King,” she grabbed his paws to stop him from patting her cheeks. “And we won’t, I almost had it, I know where I went wrong.”

“It will be more difficult now that they know we’re here.” King sighed.

“We’ll have to create a diversion and then go for it. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be ready.”

King nodded, jumping down from her knees, and went to the door to keep watch.

Amity leaned forward, putting her forearms on her knees and rested her forehead against them, taking a deep breath. She just needed a couple of moments to get her strength back and get her head in the game.

She threaded her hand through her hair, back to front, feeling the short strands of hair that had started growing, thinking about her recent decision of stopping dying it green. Ed and Em had given her hell for it, all in good faith, but Amity thought it to be a deciding choice: no longer would she be defined by her last name.

Not that she had rights to such a last name anymore, not after what she had done the previous month.

“Amity! Are you ready?” King asked her from the door.

She looked to where King was waiting for her; taking another moment, she reached down her shirt to grab the pendant she had been wearing for almost a year. She caressed the half-full heart with her thumb before securing it under her black shirt once again, and she put the hood back on.

“Let’s do this.”

***

_Nine months ago…_

Lilith was walking down the corridors of the Emperor’s palace, her heels clicking against the stone floors, making it the only sound that could be heard.

She looked around and couldn’t help the disgusted expression her face made. She despised this side of the castle, the memories of the time she had spent in one of these rooms souring the bile in her mouth, but she continued forward towards Luz’s room, the one at the end of the corridor.

Most rooms were already empty, their previous inhabitants having relocated to their new stations and quarters, but the light on her pupil’s room was still on.

She knocked on the door when she arrived even though there was no need for it because it was already open. Luz sat in the bed, wearing most of the Emperor’s uniform except the gloves, cape, and mask. She was looking at her left forearm, the fingers of her right hand slowly caressing the mark she had received not two days ago.

“Luz?” Lilith asked.

The human showed no signs of having heard her, so Lilith moved further into the room, sitting next to her but without touching her. Her eyes roamed the empty space; Luz had already packed the few belongings she had into the bag she had brought with her, the one with two heart pins decorating the exterior, but she had made no attempts to leave the room. 

“Did I make the right choice?” Luz asked in a whisper.

Her eyes were still focused on the mark on her inner wrist.

“You did the only thing you could,” Lilith said. “And if anyone is to be blamed, then that should be me. I’m sorry, Luz.”

Luz shook her head slowly. “You had as much of a choice as I did. But thank you for protecting me when I couldn’t.”

“I made a promise to Eda, child, and I plan on keeping it. I may have failed her as a sister, but I could not fail you.”

Luz looked at Lilith, and a corner of her mouth pulled upwards in a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Her eyes watered and she buried her face in her hands, silent sobs racking her body.

“I miss them, Lilith. I miss my mum, and Eda, and King, and Hooty, and Ami-” she cut her words with a gasp. “I don’t want to be doing this anymore.”

Lilith closed the distance between them and pulled Luz into her arms, cradling the young human in a protective hold.

“I know, child,” she told her while smoothing down her hair. “The worst is over for now, we only need to be ready for when the time comes.”

Luz clung tighter to Lilith and the older witch let her spill her tears on her dress, crying as she hadn’t cried before. The human had been so strong through it all, never once voicing her struggles, and now the only thing Lilith could do was to hold her while she sobbed for all the things she had lost, letting out all her doubts, all her anguish and pain.

“Will it be worth it?” Luz managed to say between tears.

“I promise you, child, we’ll make them pay.”

***

_Two weeks ago…_

There was a ruckus in the kitchen that made Amity jump from her place on the couch. She had been sleeping with a book on her face, having fallen asleep reading about the pros and cons of using soil souls as threads.

King, who had previously been sleeping at the foot of the couch, yawned, exchanging a look with her.

“Eda?” He asked out loud.

There wasn’t any answer but the sounds of pots and pans hitting each other. Amity sat up better, closing the book and leaving it on the side.

“Eda, are you alright?” Amity asked this time.

The only answer they received was a piercing scream and scrapping of nails on wood. Amity jumped from the couch, her feet carrying her to Eda, and King ran directly upstairs.

When Amity reached the kitchen, she found Eda half turned into the owl beast, ready to jump out of the window. Stepping into the room, Amity drew a circle in the air that captured Eda before she could leave. Eda, her mind not hers, screeched at Amity, trying to slash her, but her arms were tied to her sides and was unable to reach her. Still, Eda fought against the ropes, wanting to be free.

“Any time now, King!” Amity yelled while maintaining the spell.

Eda thrashed and wailed, forcing Amity to close her eyes in concentration so the ropes could keep Eda down.

“Coming, coming!” King appeared through the door with two of Eda’s potions in his hands. “Can’t you make her sleep?”

“Last time I tried that the dummy exploded, just throw the potions into her mouth!”

Amity drew another circle with her other hand and a huge abomination hand appeared next to Eda, pushing her head down onto the floor. Eda tried to break the hold, but with her arms pinned she couldn’t do much but scream while King forced the potions down her throat.

After some agonising minutes, Eda’s half owl-beast form reverted to her regular form, and Amity dropped both spells to kneel next to her.

“I’m so sorry for holding you like that, Eda,” she apologised while helping the witch up.

Eda moved her head to the sides, her neck making popping sounds. She rubbed one side of her head and put a hand on Amity’s shoulder while giving her half a smile. “That’s alright, kid, you did what I told you. A little sloppy with the execution of the rope spell, but it did hold me down.”

“Eda, your curse is getting worse,” Amity said, worrying her lower lip.

Eda shrugged. “It’s nothing I didn’t expect, kid, don’t you worry yourself with this, I’d rather you worried more about that sleeping spell I taught you last week that you can’t properly cast.”

Amity gave a step back. “I thought you didn’t remember things in your owl beast form?”

“Half form,” Eda corrected, “I could still hear both of you.” Eda put her hands on Amity’s shoulders and turned her around, starting to push her towards the exit of the kitchen. “Now, you better continue reading about all the fun things you were learning in that book of yours and I’ll get our dinner ready. Shall I expect guests?”

Amity let herself be led out and shook her head, facing Eda once again. “Emira has a date and Edric is off to pester his latest distraction. Gus and Willow have classes tomorrow, so that’s a no from them.”

“Good to know. Now go, I have work to do.”

Eda turned, leaving Amity stunned. She looked at King, who just shrugged, and she followed the demon to their previous seats. But instead of opening her book and reading, Amity sat cross-legged and sighed.

“King, we have to do something,” she whispered.

King was flattening a cushion to sleep on. “Like what? Eda is taking care of dinner, I don’t wanna do nothing.”

Amity rolled her eyes. “For Eda. We have to help her somehow, her curse is getting worse, and I promised Luz I would take care of her.”

“Eda doesn’t need protection, she’s the strongest witch in the realm.”

“There must be something we can do about her curse!”

King sighed, stopping his attempts of going back to sleep. “Look, without knowing who did it, there’s no reversing what was done. Besides, the Emperor has stopped searching for Eda, we can lay back and relax.”

Amity stayed silent for some seconds.

“Okay, but if there is no reversing it without the caster, maybe we can alleviate the effects? Her usual potions are not working as good as they were, but there _has_ to be another one.”

King seemed to be thinking about it, and he sighed, relenting.

“There is a potion to slow down curses, but for something this big we would need special tools and ingredients, apart from Eda’s usual potion.”

Amity sat on her heels, hitting her fist against her hand. “I’m in. What do we have to do?”

“You don’t understand it, Amity. This is highly dangerous and the chances of getting busted and thrown into the Conformatorium are almost guaranteed.”

Amity frowned and looked at King. “Eda gave me a safe place to stay when my parents threw me out, and she, together with Luz, has been the only person to show me kindness even when I didn’t deserve it. I have to do this for both of them, King, if- _when_ Luz comes back, I want her to be able to hug Eda, and that will only happen if I make that potion. Please, King.”

King looked conflicted, but when he looked into Amity’s eyes, he saw the earnest conviction that told him Amity would do this with or without him. And King knew if Amity went on her own, she would end up dead. Or worse.

“If we do this, you have to promise you’ll do what I say,” King said in a serious voice.

“I’ll follow your lead the whole time.”

***

_Now…_

“King! It was this way, not that one!” Amity beckoned her furry companion to where she was on the other side of the corridor.

“But the guards were going that way!”

“And they’re not competent enough to check if anyone is behind them, come on!”

King ran to Amity, who kneeled down and let him jump onto her back, climbing onto her shoulder. She kept the two of them low and in the shadows whenever it was possible. Guards were still running around the compound, but they didn’t seem to pay much attention to the dark corners, and so the duo was able to evade them easily.

“That room,” King pointed out.

Amity waited until the last of the guards passed in front of them and opened the room, closing it with a spell behind them.

“King, really watch the door this time, and don’t hesitate to make noise if anything or anyone passes through it.”

“How much longer do you think your abominations will keep them busy?” He asked, climbing to the highest shelf with Amity’s help.

“Hopefully long enough.”

She left King in his post and turned to face the room.

It was filled with artifacts and unidentifiable objects, as well as books and harmless looking things. What they were looking for was in one of the middle corridors, tied up with enchanted chains and hexes. 

It was a cauldron.

Amity had been halfway through getting rid of the hexes when they had been caught, so hopefully she could finish the counterspells and leave with their prize before they were found again.

Five minutes. Ten minutes. 

Fifteen minutes and Amity was taking the last of the chains off the thing. For something that looked like wood, it sure was treated like a treasure, but according to King, it was made out of finnisnp blood, a creature that had lived and died long before Amity was born.

She was not sure if that was true, but she wasn’t going to argue with King about it; if he said this would help Eda, she would take it.

The last of chains fell down without a sound and Amity took it. It was not bigger than King, and Amity wondered about the amount it could hold.

“King, I’m done, let’s get out of here,” she whispered.

“About time,” he said, climbing down from the shelf. “I was going to tell you it’s been strangely quiet on the outside, I think-”

He didn’t have time to finish the sentence because the door he had been watching, and a huge area around it, suddenly exploded. Amity threw herself in front of King, protecting him with her body from the debris, but she was thrown against one of the shelves, toppling over its contents and rolling on top of broken clay, wood, and stone.

She coughed, stumbling to her knees, trying to clear the dust from her lungs. King shook his body from the dust, his fur having turned ashy from it.

Amity raised her head, looking at the hole in the wall, and saw a figure standing in the Emperor’s Coven’s uniform. She couldn’t see their face through the mask, but when the figure turned their head to them, Amity could feel their eyes on her.

“King,” she said quietly to the still coughing demon. “King, we have to go.” The figure flapped their cape back, reading their stance. “King, now!”

Amity grabbed King at the same time a fireball was hurled against them, hitting the floor where they had been just seconds before.

Amity turned a corner, searching for a wall that would lead to the outside, because it was clear they wouldn’t be able to find a subtle way out, and with the Emperor’s recruit guarding the only exit, Amity wasn’t too keen on having a witch’s duel in this room, not when there were so many unknown objects in there and one misplaced spell could make them all blow up.

“To the right!”

She heard a whizzing sound behind her, and she followed King’s instructions without thinking them twice. Seconds after, the objects to her left froze, missing them by a centimetre.

“That’s the wall, in front of us!”

Amity drew a circle in the air and created a circle of frost in the stonewall, freezing the junctions between the rocks. Then, jumping to the wall back first, she curled her body into a ball with King’s inside, and drew another circle.

Just before her back collided with the frozen wall, an abomination hand caught them in its fist, crashing into the wall and sending the stones flying away, safely depositing King and Amity on the grass.

“Take it!” Amity threw the cauldron for King to catch. “I’ll hold them off and join you!”

“Amity…”

“Do it, King, for Eda.”

King wavered for a second, but then took the handle of the cauldron in his mouth and started running towards the forest. Amity turned, facing the Emperor’s recruit.

They were wearing the white cape with the raven mask, but this one’s uniform seemed somehow cleaner, more imposing than those she had encountered in previous occasions. They had one hand on their back, underneath the cape, and the other one was in front of their body, acting as a shield. With great curiosity, Amity noted the recruit was wearing fingerless gloves. 

Amity gritted her teeth, the recruit wasn’t attacking her, it seemed like they were stalling things until reinforcements could come, and if they did, Amity knew she had no chances of getting out.

If only she had mastered that sleeping spell sooner…

With no time to waste, Amity called forward the earth beneath the guard, with the grass strands growing and latching onto their hands and legs, trying to restrain them, but the witch, with a simple touch to the grass, burnt them down and ran straight towards Amity.

Panicked, Amity drew a circle and ice grew under her feet, propelling her into the air, and putting more distance between the recruit and herself. But a second later, the recruit imitated her spell, both of them now flying through the air.

Amity saw the recruit extend their arm, and vines sprouted from their hand heading straight for Amity. She didn’t want to do it, but she had no other choice but to quickly call her witch staff to her, diving down with a twirl to avoid getting captured, and rolling with the momentum the second she hit the ground.

Looking behind her, she saw the recruit create an air vortex that deposited them safely on the ground, their back to Amity.

Hoping for a swift escape, Amity tried to get up, but purple clay hands grabbed at her legs and arms, pulling her to the ground. Amity fought their hold, but the hands were growing and covering more of her body, too strong for her to fight them, and with her hands clasped she couldn’t do magic.

How had they done this? Amity had been looking at them the whole time, and the recruit had made no moves that would indicate they were doing magic. 

Amity’s heart stopped in her chest. The only person she had seen casting spells without a circle had been Emperor Belos.

The recruit got up, slowly walking towards Amity while she fought against the restraints in vain. Soon, they got to her side and Amity stopped struggling. If this one didn’t kill her right there, perhaps she could make her escape under regular guards’ supervision, those were always worse fighters than the Emperor’s recruits.

The guard flipped Amity’s hood back and she raised her head in defiance, expecting to be hit, but to her surprise, the guard gave an involuntary step back.

And then, everything happened too fast.

King appeared out of nowhere and flung himself to the recruit’s face, who stumbled backwards, trying to push the demon away. It was enough to break their concentration, though, and Amity kicked the clay hands, shattering them, and called her staff to her side, with Azure jumping from the handle to his full jaguar form.

The recruit got rid of King, but they weren’t expecting a full-body feline, and Azure took that opportunity to throw them to the ground, swiping at their face and tossing them like a rag doll.

Amity didn’t wait another second. She got up, grabbed King and the cauldron, and got on Azure, beckoning her palisman to run to the forest while the recruit struggled to get up.

Amity looked back at them only once, but it was all it took for her world to become upside down.

She saw the guard get up with difficulty, their back to Amity and company. But their mask and hood had fallen down, and Amity saw they had tan skin and dark brown hair, the sides of their head shaved into an undercut with the rest of the hair tied into a topknot.

It could’ve been anyone, but then the guard turned, and when Amity saw their face, time stopped.

It didn’t matter the distance, Amity would’ve known that face anywhere because she saw it in her dreams, and even though the other person couldn’t hear her, a choked gasp escaped Amity while she looked at the last person she ever expected to see.

“Luz?”

**Author's Note:**

> I will be updating the tags as things happen


End file.
